Angels Among Us
by eskimo86
Summary: Daryl Dixon has a destiny to fulfill. With the help of two brothers and their friend, and a few friends of his own, can Daryl lead his people to the "promised land"? Daryl/Beth, because I'm STILL in denial. Minor Destiel, if you squint hard.


Daryl Dixon was sure he was losing what was left of his mind. It wasn't because he had watched the dead come back to life hungry for flesh. It wasn't losing his brother on a rooftop in Atlanta, or later having to put his dead brother down after he had found him again. It wasn't the fall of the prison, or even when he opened the damn door at the weird funeral home expecting to find a dog and getting a whole mess of walkers instead.

Hell, it wasn't even when he saw those damn car tail lights speeding away with Beth, as awful as that had been, or realising that his best efforts weren't good enough to save her...although he's fairly certain that the edges of his mind were well worn if not splintering at the seams then. It hadn't even been when he had blinked in that hallway and he had felt pieces of her brain matter against his face. No, that moment was when the edges had gone fuzzy, time had slowed to a crawl, and his heart shattered...but his mind had been kicked into over gear then, sharp and angry. Everything had gone red and the next thing he knew there was a smoking gun in his hand.

Numbness ruled him then as Daryl picked her body up and carried her bridal style down those stairs and out into the overbearingly bright world. Bright and colourless, and the sound of Maggie's shriek was what snapped him into awareness again. It was real. It was terrible. In hindsight...

It was nothing. Not compared to this. Daryl remembered how Rick was, after Lori died. How he was seeing things. Rick still doesn't like to talk about that, still won't admit it, but Daryl is pretty sure he was seeing Lori. Daryl wishes this was like that. With all of what's left of his black little heart.

Mainly because what he's seeing, WHO he's seeing, is real. She can't be, but she is. Beth Greene is standing not five feet in front of him, right this very second. She's standing there, right next to Aaron, and he doesn't see her...at least Daryl's not SURE Aaron sees her, not yet.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Aaron looks worried. Daryl's mouth has suddenly turned into the Sahara and he can't speak. Aaron turns his head to glance over his shoulder, and then Daryl knows. He's lost his fucking mind. Aaron doesn't see her.

"You look like you've seen a ghost, man. You okay?" Aaron's brow is furrowed with confusion, and rightfully so. If Daryl has indeed lost the thin thread on his sanity and is going to go chasing ghosts and shooting at shit that isn't there like Rick did...but Daryl isn't going to do that. They're out here looking for useful things, and trying to find people. Living people, not dead girls who aren't even there.

Daryl shifts his gaze back to Aaron, resisting the urge to shake his head. That would look weird, and Daryl doesn't want to worry his friend anymore than he already has.

"'M fine." Daryl croaks out, his throat feeling like the lie he just spouted out has burned it. The words themselves have come out harsher than he meant them too, but it's better this way. Aaron takes them as a dismissal from further talking, and they continue on in silence. At least for awhile.

"You shouldn't walk this way."

Daryl almost turns his head toward her voice, catches himself. He can see her blonde hair out of the corner of his eye, and he feels like the wind is being kicked out of him. He stubbornly starts walking faster, steadfastly ignoring her vague warning. She...ITS not real. The hallucination keeps up with him much to his displeasure. It sighs, and he's grinding his teeth now. His chest is aching where his dead heart resides.

"Look down, dummy. The signs are right there." It implores him. He refuses to acknowledge the request, even if his neck is aching from the resistance to obey her...ITS command. His molars ache as he feels his jaw clenching.

"Daryl, look down." Beth's voice is loud suddenly, almost like her voice is somehow being amplified somehow, and he can't help but to do as it has bid. And he stops cold in his tracks. Aaron steps forward, unaware of what lies ahead, but he too stops when he senses that he's the only one moving.

"Daryl?" Aaron asks, his voice just a low whisper.

"Can't go this way." Daryl says, and without offering an explanation he finds himself turning back the way they came. It only takes Aaron a moment to follow him and Daryl can tell he's itching to ask why. The man doesn't say anything though. He's become accustomed to Daryl's ways after a fashion and out here, NOT listening to Daryl can very well mean death.

Daryl is shaking. He hadn't noticed before because of HER presence. But when he had looked the signs of a sizeable herd of walkers were clear. The stumbling tracks, torn foliage and lack of birdsong. He would have walked right into it, bringing Aaron with him. Of course, when they had gotten back to the spot where he'd first seen Beth, he took note that the signs had begun there.

Daryl wasn't a psychologist, not even close. But he was rational, and maybe seeing Beth had been just a fluke projection from his mind, a strange warning system.

He turned his head, hoping against hope that she was gone. His heart was beating against his chest walls when his eyes locked with her cerulean gaze, and she smiled. His heart ached. She was beautiful.

"I'm not gonna leave you." She said. He shouldn't be feeling grateful to hear those words. He should be terrified. Yet, as Aaron and him made their way back to their vehicles, Daryl kept seeing Beth there, right beside him. It was a comfort, as much as it hurt.

Aaron had suggested they head back in, to the safe zone. Daryl had agreed.

""M goin' ta do some huntin'. Saw some good tracks back a ways." Daryl said when they got back to the car and bike. "Ya 'member that house we holed up in last night? I'll meet cha there by sundown."

Aaron had agreed, and as he drove out of sight, Daryl rounded on the hallucination that hadn't left his side angrily. She was still there. Where she couldn't possibly be. He spat at her feet.

"'M crazy." He said. "Might 's well enjoy it." He gripped her by her arms, surprised to feel her skin warm beneath his hands. Daryl brought his lips down to hers in a fierce kiss, all of his grief, all of his pain of the words he'd left unspoken pouring out of him and into her warm mouth. Beth seemed to glow brighter than the forest around them as she kissed him back, and he could have swore he heard the flutter of feathers rustling.

"Beth." Daryl breathed, his lips still brushing hers. She felt so real, she smelled just how he'd remembered her, and he felt a tear coursing down his cheek as he pulled away.

"I'm real." She said, and Daryl scoffed. "I am!"

"I saw ya die, Beth. Carried yer body, felt ya go cold...ya ain't here. Jus' losing my mind, 'sall." Daryl insisted, starting to walk away from her. He was trembling from all of the emotions, his blood hot and angry even as his gut felt cold with dread, his heart aching with grief and worst of all hope. He could sense her, smell her...but the anger was winning out.

"T'fuck did I do?!" He rounded on her, his nostrils flaring as he brought himself up nose to nose with her surprised countenance. "I mourned ya! I cried like some little bitch!"

"Daryl," Beth's hand came up to touch his cheek, impossibly warm as she brushed a tear away. "'M real. 'M here, right here with you. Always have been. It just took me awhile to come back."

Daryl frowned, confused and still reeling. He was certifiable, is what he was. Totally insane. He felt all of the anger leave him as he collapsed bonelessly at her feet, weeping as he hadn't done in so long. He felt her arms embracing him from behind, just like at the moonshine shack they'd burnt to the ground. Somehow she seemed heavier, though, and It took Daryl a moment to realize why.

It was just a shadowy light, encompassing him, but if he focused on them long enough he could almost make out each feather. His fingers sought to touch one, and he was enraptured when they clasped down on it. It was there without being there; like touching a silken cloud. It had weight and substance, but almost in the way that sunshine could be felt like a hot blanket on your back. Ethereal.

"You're an angel." Daryl said plaintively.

"Yep." Beth said, and Daryl could hear the smile in her voice. "I just forgot what I was for a long time." Daryl turned to face her again, and waited for her to speak again. He didn't have to wait long.

"I was an angel, and I decided to fall. Angels have no souls, instead they have what's called grace. When an angel falls, their grace is ripped away. I was born again as a human, with no memories of who I was before. Mama always did call me her little miracle." Beth looked Daryl straight in the eyes, blue meeting blue. "Why did you bury me beneath that oak tree?"

The question took Daryl by surprise. His memories of the hours, hell, days after Beth's death were a bit fuzzy, but he remembered that clearing. The group had been walking back to the vehicles. Daryl had refused to put Beth's body down, to the point where he had almost shot Rick in the face over it.

The road stretched ahead of him, the group shooting him worried glances every once in awhile, but nobody dared speak to Daryl right now. To him, the skies had all blackened and there was no more hope.

Then he had felt something, heard something without hearing; a siren call. His feet took him off the road and into the woods. His load was heavy in his arms, and Daryl was sick with the smell of drying blood, but this is what he had to do. Vaguely, he was aware of at least some of the members of his rag tag family following him, could hear their pleas, but he didn't speak. He was listening to the fragments of his shattered heart.

The forest around him was thick. Thorns and brambles tore at his arms, but he didn't let any of them touch Beth's body. He shielded her, even in death, because that was what he was supposed to do.

Daryl wasn't sure how far he'd been walking. He wasn't sure what he was looking for. The trees began to thin, and there it was. A giant oak tree, smack dab in the middle of a beautiful clearing filled with wildflowers, and he just knew. This place was light, untouched and unmarred by the death and ugliness surrounding it. It flourished in spite of the bad. Just like Beth had.

Daryl had dug the grave himself, even though Maggie had begged to help. Rick and Glen had finally convinced her to leave Daryl to do the work. It was almost fully dark when he had lain her into the ground. He had to be coaxed out of the hole, where he had lain down beside her. He had dug the grave big enough for two people, after all. Why couldn't they understand that there was nothing left for him?

In the end, Maggie had been the one to convince him.

"She wouldn't want this for you, Daryl." Maggie had said. As much as Daryl hated it, he knew she was right.

How did he explain that to Beth now, though? Daryl was never good with words.

"'S like I heard ya callin' me. Sounds crazy, but 's what happened." Daryl summed up with a shrug. Beth nodded, seemingly satisfied. The pair sat quietly for awhile, and the only indication of time passing at all was the slowly lengthening shadows around them.

"Why couldn't Aaron see you?" Daryl blurted out, half surprised himself that he had been the one to break their comfortable silence.

"Because I wanted you to myself for awhile." Beth smiled, and stood up awkwardly.

"Ya coulda let him see ya. 'Least then I wouldn't have felt so crazy." Daryl grouched, making Beth laugh. She put her hand out, and Daryl took it, pulling himself up to his feet as well. Beth began walking, and Daryl frowned when she wasn't going back toward the road.

"Where ya going?" He asked.

"You promised Aaron fresh meat, right? Plus, I know some people who could really use some help. They aren't the best at catching game, even though they're pretty good hunters." Beth said cryptically. Daryl followed Beth, intrigued. She was walking as Daryl had taught her, carefully and nearly silent. She was searching the ground, and he almost chuckled when she saw the deer prints.

She looked up at him and Daryl nodded. He would let her lead the way.

Author's note: I'm back! Kinda. I'm going to try really hard to finish this one, and some of my old stories as well. I know, it's been year. A lot has happened and a lot has changed. I'm actually publishing this from my cell phone. I apologize if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes; I'm limited on what I can do. I hope you all enjoy this.


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